Flowers for Shippou
by Shan-chan aka Cosmic Castaway
Summary: At twelve years old, Shippou is beginning to notice girls a lot more. But will there ever be a special one for him? Pairings: InuKag, MiroSan, ShippouRin.
1. A Chance Meeting

**Flowers for Shippou** by Cosmic Castaway   
  
"I can't believe it," Shippou grumbled, stalking through the woods in a huff. "That stupid hanyou. What does she see in him?"   
  
Four years had passed since the end of the quest for the Shikon no Tama. Luckily, all of Shippou's friends had come out of it alive, and for the most part, Naraku's other enemies as well. Yet despite the absence of their enemy, life seemed to go on as it had always done. Sango and Miroku were still exactly the same. They were married, but their relationship was still as comical as it had been when the five of them had still been traveling. Kagome, although matured, was still a spitfire. And Inuyasha, who had probably changed the most since Shippou had met him, was still very clueless to the world.   
  
Not everything was exactly the same. Out of all his friends, he realized that things had been changing in him the most. He had been young when his father had died, only seven years old by human standards. Now, he was approaching adolescence. And what he had thought had been a strange affinity towards women had become, quite recently, very different. Kagome didn't feel like a mother anymore. She didn't even feel like a sister. Everytime that Inuyasha seemed to be making any progress with her, it made Shippou feel almost sick to his stomach. He found himself being very childish about the whole thing, and he'd wished that it would go away.   
  
"I'm being stupid." Shippou growled, plopping himself down beneath a large, fragrant cedar. "I don't get myself."   
  
The ground was wet and springy beneath his foxtail, and the forest was dripping with moisture. It had rained the night before, and there was a puddle right beside him. Shippou sighed to himself as he glanced at his reflection. He felt so different from before. His face was getting thinner, his hair was getting darker, and his voice was getting deeper. The once small bun he'd held his hair up in was now as long as Kouga's ponytail. His clothing was different- he'd grown out of his old attire ages before. Now he wore a pair of pale yellow hakama with a dark green leaf-print haori like his old one, only larger. His feet were human now- he'd figured out how to keep them that way. The only thing he felt that remained of his childhood were his stunning bluegreen eyes and his cream-colored foxtail.   
  
"It never used to bother me," Shippou whispered to his melancholy face in the puddle. "I used to spy on them with Miroku all the time."   
  
The silence of the forest was suddenly broken by the sound of someone humming. Shippou's human form disappeared in a flash of blue fire, and in its place stood a small, cream-colored fox. He flicked his ears forward, listening. By the sound of it, it was a very young boy or a girl, and by the scent of it, the person was human. Shippou relaxed his tensed shoulders and peeked out his head to see who it was.   
  
A young girl emerged, no older than himself. She was wearing a pink and white yukata with a fushia sash, and her long dark hair was down except a tiny pigtail on one side of the top of her head. She hummed happily to herself, oblivious to the world. Shippou had to wonder how foolish she was to be out here all by herself. He was pretty deep in the forest, and the place was known to be home to all sorts of dangerous youkai.   
  
Shippou slinked back into the shadows. He wanted to watch this girl. There was something vaguely familiar about her scent, and she looked a lot like Kagome. In fact, she looked nearly identical.   
  
Shippou wracked his mind for the image of another little girl he could disguise himself as. All he could think of was Souten, but she was a youkai, so he settled for Kagome herself. That way he could approach her pretty easily and lead her out to safety.   
  
With a light popping sound, a mass of blue flames engulfed the young fox and Kagome sat in its place. He'd not used her school uniform, but decided it would be better to appear as if dressed like a miko. So trying his best not to frighten her, Shippou slowly stood up and walked up behind the girl.   
  
"Oh! You scared me." The little girl said, looking startled. "Miko-sama? Are you lost?"   
  
Shippou had to think quickly of what a miko might say in this situation. Using his most polite and feminine speech, he replied, "Thank you for asking! But no, I'm gathering herbs!"   
  
The little girl blinked. "There aren't any herbs around here."   
  
"There aren't?" Shippou/Kagome replied, scraching the back of her neck nervously. "Well, I'm an apprentice to a miko. I guess I didn't know!"   
  
The girl laughed. "I'm Rin!"   
  
"My name is..." Shippou paused. "Er...Kikyou."   
  
"Pleased to meet you, Kikyou-san!" Rin replied.   
  
"Yeah, you too," said Shippou, but now it was time for him to ask some questions. "May I ask, Rin-chan," he began, "What you might be doing out here?"   
  
Rin smiled at him. "Well, I live here."   
  
Shippou balked. "Out...here...?"   
  
"Yep!" Rin nodded, "With Sesshoumaru-sama and Lord Jaken!"   
  
Shippou experienced a feeling very similar to all the times he was punched upside the head by Inuyasha. It was so intense a revelation that he lost his grasp on his transformation and in a flash of blue flames, he was back in his regular human form.   
  
"Ah!" Rin gasped. "A...a TANUKI!"   
  
Shippou hung his head in exasperation. "I'm a kitsune," he muttered dismally.   
  
"Oh," Rin replied. "Don't I know you from somewhere?"   
  
"Yes," Shippou replied. "I was the kid of Inuyasha's group."   
  
Rin's eyes narrowed. "Why'd you try to trick me?"   
  
"I didn't want to frighten you, and I was...worried you were lost."   
  
Rin cluched a fist to her chest, blushing slightly. "Oh."   
  
Letting out a sigh, Shippou turned to go, mumbling something along the lines of "As if I haven't embarassed myself enough already..."   
  
But Rin stopped him. "Wait."   
  
"What is it?" Shippou asked her.   
  
And then he had another revalation. As he looked back at her blushing, embarrassed face, the fact that Kagome had been holding Inuyasha earlier that day seemed to not mean a thing to him. He felt a heat creep into his cheeks and felt his stomach fill with butterflies.   
  
"Thank you." Rin replied softly, smiling.   
  
"Of c-course," Shippou stammered in return. "Nothing do it. Er, to it."   
  
"I was heading home," Rin told him, her shyness seeming to pass. "I'll see you around."   
  
"Okay," Shippou replied. His mouth had dried up and his brain seemed suddenly blank. Everything he felt like saying to her seemed like it would be stupid.   
  
Rin turned and continued walking deep into the forest, leaping nimbly over logs or balancing on top of them, humming happily. 

  
"Bye..." Shippou trailed off. He blinked, and she was gone.   
  
"Ke. Now I REALLY don't understand myself." Shippou shook his head and headed out of the forest, wondering if he was ill.   
  
_To be continued..._   


  
**A/N:** Wow, this is my first non-yaoi fic in quite a long time. XP I've always thought the pairing of Rin and Shippou was cute, and there's not that much fanfiction out there about the two. I hope you liked the first chapter of _Flowers for Shippou_, and please Review! 


	2. Miroku and Inuyasha's Advice

**Flowers for Shippou** by Cosmic Castaway

_Chapter 2_

Shippou bustled out of the forest as fast as he could, his head clouded with thoughts. _Did she think I looked dumb?_ He shook his head a little. _No, she was blushing! She liked me!_ Shippou's face cracked into a satisfied smirk, but that quickly disappeared to be replaced by an expression that looked as if he'd just stepped in something unpleasant. _Or I said something to embarass her! BAKA!  
_  
The young kitsune could barely recall what had happened back in the woods. He had remembered Rin, of course: the cheerful little girl who had tagged behind Inuyasha's emotionless older brother way back when. He'd really had no interest in her at the time, despite Rin's resemblance to a scruffier Kagome. What was it about her now? He'd always get crushes on cute little girls as a cub, not to mention his attachment to Kagome and Sango. Why should his feelings be so _different _from before?  
  
There was, of course, only one person Shippou knew who would be able to help him. That person, regrettably, was -  
  
"MIROKU!" Shippou called towards the slight glow of firelight up past the modest temple gates. "MIROKU, IT'S ME!"  
  
A blinking, somewhat tired-looking face peered from the main hall as Shippou drew closer. His black hair was tousled and his robes looked wrinkled and slightly dirty. "Whatissit?" He asked sleepily, lifting an arm to sheild his eyes from the last bit of sun that was blazing over the tops of the trees.  
  
Shippou couldn't help but sigh as he approached, crossing his arms and refusing to look Miroku directly in the eye. "Fell asleep again, didn't you? In the middle of the day."  
  
Miroku walked out of the building and plopped himself down on the outer patio, legs crossed indian-style. "We don't get many guests this time of year. And Sango is away on another exterminating job..."  
  
Shippou approached and sat next to the monk, now at his shoulder in height.  
  
"I get no excitement around here..." Miroku continued, hanging his head.  
  
Shippou scoffed. "You don't seem too concerned. Sleeping all day in your robes and neglecting your duties..."  
  
Miroku grinned. "Do not misunderstand me; I enjoy the peaceful life. I enjoy life in general, seeing as I nearly lost it." He gazed upwards, squinting in the dying sunshine. "Really, though. When one has lived a life such as we did, returning to a peaceful life is sometimes...difficult."  
  
Shippou sucked in a deep breath and let it out loudly. "Yes. I understand."  
  
"So," Miroku began again cheerily, "I'm sure you did not merely visit me to scold me about my bad habits," he paused, his smile waning. "Or did you?"  
  
"Nope," Shippou replied, "Not this time. I needed to ask your...advice...on a thing that happened today."  
  
Miroku nodded, somewhat surprised. "Tell me, then. I'll help as best as I can."  
  
Shippou's reply was muttered so low and unclearly that it came out as a jumbled "Isawrintoday."  
  
"Come again?" Miroku probed, raising an eybrow.  
  
Shippou's cheeks flushed and he stared at the ground as if angry with it. "I said, I saw Rin today."  
  
"Oh," Miroku replied, "The little girl that Inuyasha's brother takes care of?"  
  
Shippou dangled his legs off the edge of the patio and kicked at the ground with his foot. "She's not that little anymore."  
  
Miroku smiled knowingly down at the copper-haired fox boy, who peeked up at him for only a second before reverting his gaze back to the floor. "I see. And now you are confused about her?"  
  
Shippou nodded. "I only just saw her out there in the woods and I thought she was lost. I did something stupid and then I found out who she was and that she lived there. Then...she thanked me for trying to help...and..."  
  
"That's when it happened?" Miroku finished gently.  
  
"Yeah. I used to...you know, _like_ girls and all. I wanted to always impress them and make them happy. But lately...ugh, I feel like I've got no idea what I am doing anymore, and I just shut down and get stupid whenever I'm around a girl that matters."  
  
"Yes, yes, things are changing for you, Shippou," Miroku explained, "And you are entering a time in your life when your body will begin to have certain...needs that it didn't have before."  
  
Shippou blinked. "Are we on the same planet here? WHAT needs?"  
  
"Well," Miroku leaned in as if to whisper, "You will start desiring...more than a woman's friendship."  
  
"What are you getting at, perv?" Shippou asked, looking more than a little annoyed at Miroku's lack of seriousness at such a time.  
  
Miroku placed up both hands defensively, grinning as if he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "I'm being honest, I swear! At your time of life - though I admit, it's a bit earlier than if you were a human - you will have certain urges, Shippou, and it's nothing to be ashamed of!"  
  
Shippou hung his head, still unsure of whether Miroku was being an idiot on purpose or if it was unintentional. "So what do I do about these urges then?"  
  
Miroku lowered his hands, his face completely serious. "A bit of advice, Shippou, man-to-man." He leaned forward and whispered something low in Shippou's ear that made his face turn three shades redder.  
  
"B-baka! I'm still a kid, I don't want to do those things with Rin!" Shippou scooted several feet away from the monk, highly disturbed at what he'd told him.  
  
Miroku only sighed. "Of course."  
  
"Pervert."  
  
"I am a monk."  
  
Shippou stood up in a huff. "I don't know _why_ I thought you'd help me..."  
  
"No, sit down. Please!" Miroku called back to him, clearly looking desperate. "I can help you."  
  
"Fine." Shippou sat down angrily beside him again. "One more chance."  
  
"Alright," Miroku began, "Clearly I was getting a bit ahead of myself."  
  
"Clearly," Shippou agreed.  
  
"See, you developed a strong crush on this girl. It is beyond what you felt when you were young," Miroku told him, gazing off in the distance.  
  
"Why is it so different?" Shippou asked. "Makes no fricken' sense."  
  
Miroku shrugged. "Emotions are never an easy thing to sort out. When we are young, things are simpler. We only feel one kind of love, a purer love. Many children may wish to marry a parent or a friend without realizing what it actually means. However, as we age, our feelings become more complex, and suddenly there are _several_ different kinds of love."

Shippou stared at the ground again, embarassed by the subject. "Like what?"  
  
"There is the love we save for family," Miroku continued, "There is a separate love for our friends. There is lust, which can be mistaken for love. And then, of course, there is romantic love. Usually, a crush is a premature version of these feelings. It is an interest to start a romantic love with that person."  
  
"So I want to love Rin? As a sort of..." Shippou gulped, "_Girlfriend_?"  
  
Miroku smiled down at him. "Yes, in a way. And that is why you are so self-concious around her. You want her to like you too. A crush like that is a beginning, Shippou. It is up to you to either finish the story or to put the book down."  
  
The sun had set completely. A few lone stars flickered brilliantly in the velvet-colored sky.  
  
"Miroku no Donna?"  
  
Miroku and Shippou turned around at the voice. A familiar tanuki stood in the entryway.  
  
"Yes, Hachi?" Miroku asked.  
  
"There is a woman here who came through the East gates. She wishes to speak with you."  
  
Miroku nodded. "Yes, I'll see her." He truned back to Shippou as he stood up. "You'll be okay?"  
  
Shippou nodded. "Ya. I will."  
  
"I'll see you, then. Stay out of trouble." Miroku walked away, disappearing into the main hall.  
  
Shippou pushed himself off the patio and transformed into the cream-colored fox. If his mind had been swimming with questions before, Miroku's talk had only made even more of them come. Shippou bounded into the forest, still somewhat in shock to what he'd heard. Why had no one bothered to tell him this before?  
  
_I figured it was a crush_, Shippou thought to himself, streaking past the trees. _But what do I do now? The only clue I have is what I'm not supposed to act like...namely, Inuyasha's cluelessness and Miroku's sexual harassment._ Shippou made a face, wondering why the only two males he could go to for advice were such idiots when it came to girls, especially the hanyou. Miroku, at least, had been semi-helpful.  
  
_My father would have known what to do, but he's dead. What would he say to me?_ Shippou thought hard to remember his father. The image was a bit distorted, but he could picture a handsome fox with clever eyes and a gentle, free spirit.  
  
Shippou emerged on the other side of the woods into Kaede's village and took his human form again. Kagome and Inuyasha would be waiting for him there. "I will go and see Rin again tomorrow," Shippou whispered to himself. "That is what Dad would have said. To just go and see her. I'll figure it out from there."  
  
- - - - -   
  
"I'm home," Shippou announced, entering the small house he shared with Inuyasha and Kagome.  
  
"Brat," Inuyasha called from inside. "You're late, you know."  
  
Shippou stuck his tongue out at the hanyou, who replied by saying 'Ke' and turning around, refusing to look at him.  
  
"Where's Kagome?" questioned Shippou.  
  
Inuyasha turned around. "What were you doing at Miroku's, anyways?"  
  
Shippou sighed. He should have known Inuyasha would have caught the monk's scent on him. He was lucky that Rin's scent had faded by then. "I only went to visit. And you didn't answer me. Where's Kagome?"  
  
"Right here."  
  
Shippou turned around. Directly behind him was a very stern-looking version of the girl that he had asked about. She looked slightly disheveled, with random twigs sticking out of her hair and a fairly ruined-looking set of clothing.  
  
Inuyasha pretended to be interested in a fly that was buzzing around as Shippou gasped in horror.  
  
"Augh! I'm sorry!" He cried to her, bowing several times. "It will never happen again!"  
  
Kagome exhaled loudly. "Forget it. I'm too tired to yell at you today."  
  
Shippou breathed in relief. "Thank gods. You went looking for me?"  
  
"Yes," Kagome replied, "After you stormed off."  
  
Shippou turned to Inuyasha, growling. "You dolt! You let Kagome go off to look for me in the woods by herself?!"  
  
"Hey, leave me out of this." Inuyasha muttered in response.  
  
"He helped, Shippou-chan, don't worry," Kagome reassured him, "I wasn't _in_ the woods just now. I came from asking around the village if anyone had seen you."  
  
"The brat went to Miroku and Sango's," Inuyasha explained, "Probably to cry all over them -"  
  
Shippou shot the older boy a glare. "Shut up, I did not! And Kagome," he turned to her, "I'm sorry I worried you."  
  
"Just stop running off," Kagome scolded, "I've told you that a million times. Youkai or not, you're still too young to be on your own in that forest."  
  
Shippou nodded. "Yes, I know."  
  
"I think you need a bath," Inuyasha suggested to Kagome. "I took mine, you know. The water should still be hot."  
  
"Thanks," Kagome told him, sounding exhausted. She kissed his head as she passed him by. "You make dinner tonight, hmm?"  
  
Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah, yeah, get out of here."  
  
Kagome walked out of the back entrance, giggling at the hanyou's faked aloofness.  
  
_Well, I take it back_, Shippou thought to himself, _He must be doing something right. Maybe old dog ears can help me afterall.  
_  
"Hey, Inuyasha?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Say you like this girl. You know, you have a crush on her. How do you know if she likes you back?"  
  
"How should I know?" Inuyasha answered. "They tell you, or it's obvious. But girls are never obvious, so I dunno, I guess you're screwed."  
  
"Be serious for once," Shippou growled. "I wanna know how you're sure, without her stating the obvious."  
  
Inuyasha thought for a moment. "She brings you flowers."  
  
"Flowers?" Shippou repeated.  
  
"Uh-huh. Now I gotta attempt to make edible food, so go bother somebody else, will ya?" Inuyasha bounded off outside, obviously to hunt or to forage. Shippou fell backwards onto his unrolled futon, left alone to his thoughts again.  
  
"Flowers..." He repeated again, thinking the concept over. "I'll see her again tomorrow. I doubt that anything significant will happen, but...maybe someday, there will finally be some flowers for me."

_To be continued..._

**A/N:** Sorry for the lack of Shippou/Rin cuteness in this chapter, but I figured that Shippou would ask a bit of advice before going to see her again. He seems more of the sensible type that would do that. As for any Sango fans...sorry I left her out, but she'll be sure to make appearance in a future chapter. And as always: Please review?


End file.
